The Greywater Guerrillas
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Other ProjectsDirect Greywater:Outdoor pedal-powered washer in Oakland, CA. How to do drip irrigation with greywater. Constructed Wetlands:Desert pond -- greywater passed through three wetlands, in Austin, TX. Bathtub wetlands -- to treat shower water, in Oakland, CA. Kitchen sink wetland -- to treat a kitchen sink, in Los Angeles, CA. Shower water -- another shower system in Seattle, WA with a surge tank. Composting Toilets:The prettiest composting toilet in Oakland, CA. Rainwater Harvesting: |
How to do drip irrigation using greywater!
All the materials can be found at a drip irrigation store, plus maybe some bits at a hardware store. There are two separate ideas in the scheme that make it work nicely.
The main hose is underground, with drip lines (no emitters, of course) coming up out of the ground, arranged so that their outlets are all approximately at the same level (within a few inches or so). This way, the hose stays full of water, such that whenever water comes out from the house, water immediately and equally emerges from all drip lines, no matter how far they are from the water source. If the main tube were above ground, using gravity flow, it would water the near drip points more than the far ones, especially with lower water flows.
Here's how the system deals with inevitable cloggage. The two ends of the main, wide underground irrigation tube come up out of the ground at either end. At least one has a fitting on it to allow a garden hose to be attached. Both ends have removable caps (photos below). The cap on the hose-fitting end was made by taking a little metal hose adaptor and filling it with rubber cement (photo above right). When it seems that some of the drip tubes aren't dripping well anymore you take the following steps:
- Turn the shut-off valve on the tube that brings water out of the house (photo above left) to the wide underground irrigation tube.
- Take the caps off both ends of the exposed ends of the wide tube.
- Attach a garden hose to one end (photo below right), and let 'er rip. Water should come shooting out everywhere, including any blocked drip lines. We find it just takes a 10-20 second squirt of water and everything's clear. We find we need to clear it out about once a month.
Adam and Andy's house, Tuscon, AZ.
